my cat is eating the litter from her litter box

Status

Cast your vote for which answer you think is best!

Answers

There is probably something wrong, so you need to take your cat to the vet if you see it eating litter. Cats will usually only do this because of a nutritional deficiency of some sort, which can be caused either by their diet or by a severe disease. Most litter contains a lot of minerals - but it's not good for the cat to eat it, as it is usually on balance worse for the cat, especially clay litter. Eating litter is a prime symptom of feline anemia, for example, because that disease causes iron deficiencies - you should check on that page to see if your cat has any of the other symptoms. Another potential disease is chronic renal failure in cats - a shutdown in the kidneys that sometimes causes cats to eat litter in response

There is something medically wrong with your cat. Please take her to the vet. My cat did this when she was in end stage renal failure. Please get her to a vet ASAP!

Member 185886
answered on 10/5/10.
Helpful? /0

I'm no medical genius but I do know cats. Many times the diet they are on can be the problem. Foods that are not well balanced will have a kitty eat strange things in order to try and get the proper minerals their body is craving. The clay in the litter will have the earth minerals such as iron, potassium, magnesium etc: that they are not receiving from the food you are feeding them. Go to a pet store or vet and purchase a good quality well balanced food that is recommended for your age cat. Slowly change your food with mixing the food you are feeding now with the new, to get their system adjusted. Don't expect the habit to stop over night. It may take several weeks for the mineral imbalance to be controlled. Don't be alarmed with stories of some horrible thing being wrong with your cat. Give this a try and if you don't get good results in a few weeks or the habit worsens see your vet.